IN April last year Rosemary Irwin, chairman of trustees at Gilbert White’s House, raised £23,000 walking the 74 miles from Selborne to Oriel College, Oxford, to help finance the museum’s efforts to rescue the ‘at risk’ buildings in its stable yard.

The area is to be used to create a new exhibition about Frank Oates, the uncle of Antarctic explorer Captain Lawrence Oates, who sacrificed his own life to avoid being a burden on his three companions during the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1910-13 and to create a new cafe and shop. 

After its recent success in securing a £1.6 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, it is now up to the museum to match the funding.

Rosemary will once again don her walking boots to tread in the footsteps of one-time Oriel student White – often dubbed the father of modern naturalism – who walked made the journey on foot many times – but this time in the reverse direction.

The intrepid trustee plans to walk from Oxford, following paths well known to White 250 years ago, back to Selborne over the course of three weekends.

Last year more than 90 walkers joined Rosemary during her journey from Wakes Field to Oxford, having been seen off by Gilbert White (AKA Ronnie Davidson-Houston), dressed in full 18th-century costume and mounted on horseback, and Captain Oates (AKA his great nephew, Bryan Oates) leading a pony and dressed in Antarctic gear.

Rosemary hopes that this year she will be joined by many new faces and supporters: “Last year we raised, thanks to your generosity, an astounding £23,000 towards the project to renovate the museum. This year, once again, the funds raised by the walk will go towards this project which, when it is finished, will be a worthy monument to some of England’s deservedly famous sons.”

Rosemary will start out on Friday, April 22, walking from Oxford to Goring, with the following Friday (April 29) to Sunday, May 1 covering the route to Nuneham Green, and Saturday, May 7, the final stretch to Selborne, visiting vibrant towns and picturesque villages en route, and taking in riverside walks, historic landmarks and beautiful countryside.

For information on the walk and how to link up with Rosemary Irwin – for as much or as little of the walk as you want – or via top sponsor her, visit www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk